To Smash or not to Smash

[altworld]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

True, but then you will need to wait another week to see if it's worked. They're not always precise about what you've failed for though. One I had a while ago failed because I didn't have an author name on the cover image, but the error message said it was missing from the copyright page. Another failed because the title was in all caps (it was an acronym, so it looks stupid in lower case).

No you don't... You know instantly if it worked because of the Autovetter which will pick up 99% of the common formatting errors for you. Those you don't understand the answer is usually only an email away.

Premium Catalog errors normally come down a format oddity which is easy to fix, and again if you don't understand. These you have to wait a little longer average of two weeks, because of their backlog of hand checking the files, which makes them the only service to do this.

100% of the formatting errors just come from not reading the style guide correctly, I've done some pretty complicated stuff with some of my ebooks and do not understand why people have issues. Just breathe spend a couple of hours learning how to fix it, after all you've just spent a huge chunk of your life writing your book and getting it to this stage.
Arigato,
Nick Davis

[teh603]

Originally Posted by altworld

No you don't... You know instantly if it worked because of the Autovetter which will pick up 99% of the common formatting errors for you. Those you don't understand the answer is usually only an email away.

There's also nothing to stop you from downloading a copy to your own e-reader and seeing how it looks for yourself. I've done that with everything I've published, and caught a few minor problems which were easy enough to correct.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by altworld

No you don't... You know instantly if it worked because of the Autovetter which will pick up 99% of the common formatting errors for you. Those you don't understand the answer is usually only an email away.

I've never had any formatting errors, but when it complained that I didn't have an author name on the cover image and another where I used all caps separated by periods as the title because it was an abreviation both took an extra week after "fixing" them.

[altworld]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I've never had any formatting errors, but when it complained that I didn't have an author name on the cover image and another where I used all caps separated by periods as the title because it was an abreviation both took an extra week after "fixing" them.

Extra week of what? I am confused because the Meatgrinder is very fast and you get the file turned around in order an hour. Then your book is published. Of course you must be talking about getting approved for the Premium Catalog, which is done by hand checking files. But don't tell anyone that, right? I hate false outrage that don't present all the facts.

Patience is a virtue, even in the age of electronic publishing.
Arigato,
Nick Davis

[VydorScope]

Okay, along the lines of most people in this thread, after I worked through the first book with them, everything since then has gone right through with out errors. I do the work in MS Office 2011 for Mac, but keep the file in the older .doc format its entire life. I set up the "Normal" template in Office that it applies the formatting per their style guide as I type. I let them distro to everyone except Amazon. (which they are still working on)

I then take that doc and save it off a s html from Word as per Amazon's recommendation. I add the HTML code for the table of contents and then send that directly to them. I use their preview tool to test it after it is converted, but before its published it to get it as best as I can before it hits market.

Once its live on Amazon, I BUY a copy so I can see the end result. I also buy a copy from Barnes and Noble, and Apple to see what it looks like when it gets there. Really between Amazon, Apple, and B&N I have like 95%+ of my audience covered, so don't worry much about the others.

Smashwords is slow in getting back to you, but they are great to work with all around. Meatgrinder is not as bad as some make it out to be, and the epubs work fine in ever reader I have tried. Better then many professional books I have purchased thats for sure.

Thats just my opinion...

[JSWolf]

The meatgrinder is as bad as it's made out to be. It produces awful code. And some of the time, that awful code prevents readers from changing thing like margins, line spacing, fonts, colors, font sizes and more. So while the ePub from the meatgrinder may look OK with publisher settings on, it may not really be OK.

As has been said many times on MR...

JUST BECAUSE IT PASSES EPUBCHECK/FLIGHTCREW DOES NOT MEAN IT'S GOING TO WORK AS EXPECTED.

Then going into the ePub to fix the problem(s) may not be so easy because the code is so poor. So yes, the meatgrinder is atrocious.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by altworld

Smashwords allows you a no hassle one stop distribution point to Kobo, Apple, eDiesel, Sony, Barnes & Noble and Barker & Taylor (which gets you into library's).

Wait, did I miss something? Barker & Taylor (I confess I've never heard of them! ) are interfaced with Overdrive in some way?

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Wait, did I miss something? Barker & Taylor (I confess I've never heard of them! ) are interfaced with Overdrive in some way?

Details:

https://www.smashwords.com/press/release/29

snippet:

About Baker & Taylor
Baker & Taylor, Inc. (www.baker-taylor.com) is the world's largest distributor of books, digital content and entertainment products. The company leverages its unsurpassed worldwide distribution network to deliver rich content in multiple formats, anytime and anywhere. Baker & Taylor offers cutting-edge digital media services and innovative technology platforms to thousands of publishers, libraries and retailers worldwide. Baker & Taylor also offers industry-leading customized library services and retail merchandising solutions. Baker & Taylor is proud to power Blio (blioreader.com), the world's most flexible, engaging and revolutionary e-Reading application. Charlotte, N.C.-based Baker & Taylor is majority owned by Castle Harlan Partners IV, L.P., an institutional private equity fund managed by Castle Harlan, Inc., a leading private equity investment firm.

Baker & Taylor and the Baker & Taylor logo are trademarks of Baker & Taylor, Inc. Blio is a trademark of K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc. Other company and product names mentioned for identification purposes may be trademarks of their respective owners.

[anamardoll]

Oh, is this the new thing that is in a format no current market eReader handles?

And that only runs online or on LCD devices?

And that something like a dozen libraries in the continental US have adopted?

I didn't miss that announcement, I just rolled my eyes so hard they fell out of my sockets.

[carpetmojo]

As a reader, I find Smashwords very good, simple and easy to use.

Whatever format you use, as mentioned by Harry.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Oh, is this the new thing that is in a format no current market eReader handles?

And that only runs online or on LCD devices?

And that something like a dozen libraries in the continental US have adopted?

I didn't miss that announcement, I just rolled my eyes so hard they fell out of my sockets.

Hey its opens a new market, and potentially could break out the Library market, its all good.

[John Carroll]

I've published 15 books on Smashwords without difficulty. My wife has a nook and I have a Kindle. They look beautiful on both readers.

It takes some patience, but in little over a year, my free stories have been downloaded tens of thousands of times and my books for sale have been purchased hundreds of times through Smashwords and it's retailers.

It's not as easy as Amazon, but if you're willing to take the time and put in the work, it's most definitely worth it. My experience has been nothing but good.

Also, people complain about it taking weeks or even a few months for books to be distributed to retailers, but it's still 10 times faster than traditional publishing. Much of it depends upon perspective.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Hey its opens a new market, and potentially could break out the Library market, its all good.

Not if I have to buy yet another eReader to get my library books. Husband already says that 5 eReaders is too many.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by teh603

So am I the only one who found it easier to just write in Notepad, and then compile the style sheet in OpenOffice? I've never had an error from Smashwords unless I'd accidentally saved it as an .odt instead of a .doc. And when that happens, just resave it in the correct format.

Ooh, tell me more... I could tag a txt file and import to OO instead of applying formatting in Word? I *have* a tagged file to work with; could add more tags. I'd rather not reformat everything with yet.another.system.

[anamardoll]

The very idea of working in plain text sends shivers up my spine.